Dodgers were wise not to trade future for the present

Jorge Sosa. Geoff Blum. Dave Roberts. Doug Mientkiewicz. Orlando Cabrera. Sal Fasano. Alex Ochoa.

Those Dodgers fans fretting that their team did not acquire the missing piece at the trading deadline this week should understand one thing about the above seven players.

They were all missing pieces.

They were the parts acquired at the trading deadline by the last five World Series champions.

Not a Teixeira thumper or Dotel drill among them.

The moral of the story being, today’s titles cannot be bought by tossing down a wad of sweaty bills at last call.

Today’s titles are not won today, or last week, or this season.

Today’s titles are not won by instant roster changes, they are won by slow organizational upheavals, restocking and reworking and resisting every impulse to scream.

Chances are, if you are desperate enough to trade top prospects for one big name, you are not good enough to win with him.

For the first time since they were broken up after the 1994 season, the Dodgers are no longer that team.

For the first time in a decade, they are no longer the kind of team that needs to do calisthenics every July to be strong for many Octobers.

They have a nucleus. They have a surplus. They have a clue.

What they may not eventually have this season is a spot in the playoffs, but -- and I can’t believe I’m writing this -- maybe that can wait.

Maybe they have to sacrifice a September for James Loney, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier to learn how to play in the heat.

Maybe they have to lose a division for Jonathon Broxton to learn how to pitch under the glare.

Maybe Dodgers fans, just this once, will agree to pay for two months of soaring, skidding fun with an October of silence.

Having finally collected enough good players to contend for several years, the Dodgers smartly refused to break them up for the sake of this one.

Maybe, by taking no big steps, they have actually taken a giant one.

“We have made a public commitment to player development, and it cannot be a halfway commitment,” said owner Frank McCourt. “We have to stay the course, and we’ll have a chance to reap the rewards year after year.”

It is a sign of the Dodgers philosophy that McCourt spent the last several days before the trading deadline not in his Chavez Ravine office, but in Ogden and Las Vegas and San Bernardino.

“I can’t go to those places and look a kid in the eye and say, ‘We’re going to try to develop you into a Dodger,’ and then trade him away.” McCourt said. “That’s not how you build a winner.”

This support made it easier for General Manager Ned Colletti to say no to trades.

And, man, did he say no.

No to Chin-Lung Hu. No to Clayton Kershaw. No, no, no to any of the kids on the major league roster.

“There was not one deal that didn’t involve players who played a major part on this club, and we just weren’t willing to do that,” Colletti said.

In the past in this space, Dodgers general managers have been scolded for not making deadline moves while their division rivals loaded up.

But not since that 1997 team contained five rookies of the year have the Dodgers had such a foundation.

Not since the days of Piazza and Karros have the fans felt such a connection to so many kids.

And, who knows, in such a flawed division, they could still figure out a way to survive.

Their pitching is thin. Their kids are inconsistent. Their old guys are one hamstring from irrelevance.

But isn’t this uncertainty a small price to pay for a chance at several years of solidity? And, with no postseason series wins in 20 years, isn’t it about time the Dodgers paid it?

When asked if they could still win, the Dodgers are keeping a stiff upper opinion.

Said Colletti: “I believe we can. I truly believe there’s more to see with this club.”

Said Manager Grady Little: “If our players do what they’re supposed to do -- no more, no less -- then I think we have a chance.”

Two years from now, if both men are still around, they will be far more certain.

Two years from now, writers could be beginning Dodgers trading stories with names of seven different players.

Russell Martin. James Loney. Tony Abreu. Chin-Lung Hu. Andy LaRoche. Matt Kemp. Andre Ethier.

Like the list that started this story, they could all be missing pieces to a championship.

Missing pieces that were never missing.

Until then, shed your stereotypes and toss your truths and climb aboard a dizzying, dumbfounding ride that knows exactly where it is going.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.